When we got our date to leave, we had six months left. I knew it would go fast. I knew that when it finally came, I would feel like it was a whirlwind. I was right. It's just about a week until we get on the ferry.
This summer I've tried to really appreciate Alaska and all it's given us. Soldier and I got married here and have spent the last 3 years in an apartment that looks out on ocean and mountains; where I can sit and watch cruise ships dock and seaplanes land. We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny summer. We had a couple of visitors and took advantage of some last ditch adventures. As much as I've gotten down on Juneau, I know I'm going to miss it. It's a surreal life up here.
I may have already mentioned some of these things but in getting emotional I have to tell you again. Our best friends were planning on getting married and wanted Soldier to perform the ceremony...so they booked a helicopter out to a lighthouse on 4th of July. We took a helicopter to a lighthouse for our best friends to get married. We saw whales as we were flying over the ocean. The next day, Soldier and I took the skiff out to pull the crab pots. It was a gorgeous day and I was out in a bikini top and shorts pulling up pots. But as we were out Soldier had to dodge all the commercial fishing boats and their nets. We stopped for him to throw a line out and I remember looking around and thinking, "This isn't normal. This is amazing." Do you have any idea what it's like to see a whale come up while you're sitting there in a 14 foot skiff? It's terrifying and amazing at the same time. You realize how incredibly small you are and how incredibly awesome nature is.
When Soldier's cousin came up to visit we took a seaplane to Admiralty Island. Admiralty's claim to fame is that there are more brown bears than people there. We went to see the Coastal Brown Bears (fun fact: they don't call them grizzly bears because they're not as aggressive). I would have liked to have seen them a little closer but I was also kind of okay with it. You're basically just out in nature, in the territory of this massive deadly animal; you're at the mercy of basically whatever they want to do. It's crazy.
With the amazing weather, Soldier has had many opportunities for great fishing. That's not to say bad weather keeps him from fishing, but good weather means less worry for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm real freaking sick of his fishing obsession. And as we got along in the summer I kept asking what he was planning on doing with all the fish he was catching. Guys, I do know that it's a good problem to have. But I will be glad when every week doesn't include an all day fishing trip.
The good weather also meant we had lots of time to stroll around downtown, which I love. Lots of watching seaplanes land and just general sunshine, not as much hiking as we should have done.
We've had both of our work going away parties, the movers have taken most of our stuff away, and I've started cleaning out the apartment. This time next week we'll have taken our ferry trip, crossed over into Canada (hopefully without any issues), and should be on the tail end of getting to our first campsite. The journey should take about a week and we're spending 2 days at Banff National Park, which I'm really excited about.
I think we've had as good of a last summer as we could have. I'm excited for the adventure of our multi country road trip, and getting back to the lower 48. Hopefully I'll have lots of animal pictures to post from the drive!
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